3 Network Naming and Addressing

The network naming and addressing schemes used by FTP (Domain Names (DN), IP Addresses) and FTAM (Distinguished Names, Presentation Addresses) are quite different. This issue is quite apparent when a user of one protocol needs to identify a destination host of the other protocol.

In the TCP/IP naming and addressing scheme, the identity of the FTP Server is its DN and its IP address [RFC 1101]. To initiate a connection to an FTP Server, the FTP Client looks up a DN in either the Domain Name System (DNS) or static host table and obtains an IP address.

In the OSI naming and addressing scheme, the identity of the FTAM Responder service is its Distinguished Name in the OSI Directory (X.500 or static table) and its Presentation address. The Distinguished Name is an authoritative description of the service. A Presentation address consists of a Presentation selector, a session selector, a transport selector, and a network address. To initiate a connection to an FTAM Responder, the FTAM Initiator contacts the OSI Directory, presents the Distinguished Name of the desired FTAM Responder and asks for the Presentation address attribute associated with that name.

An alternative to the direct use of Distinguished Names is to use "User Friendly Naming", as defined in [Kille92]. Gateway support for "User Friendly Naming" is recommended, but not required.